The owners of the Jets and Giants are threatening to kill a pact with New Jersey for a new Meadowlands stadium if Gang Green and Big Blue are forced to pay for a retractable roof.

Jets owner Woody Johnson and Giants co-owner John Mara said a roof requirement would be a deal-breaker – even though state officials insist it would boost profits and help attract events such as the Super Bowl and major political conventions.

“I would rather walk away from this deal than be required to put a roof on it,” Mara said. “We’re already north of $1 billion in costs [without a roof], and the numbers don’t support it. It’s a bad in vestment.”

The comments come less than a week after New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said he wanted to review the agreement, expres sing concerns about the financial terms of the deal, brokered by his predecessor, and about whether building a stadium without a roof limits its use.

Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley declined to comment on the team owners’ statements, but said the state treasurer is still reviewing the deal.

After failing to gain enough political support for a new stadium on Manhattan’s West Side, the Jets last September abandoned their effort to return to New York, agreeing to jointly finance a $1 billion stadium with the rival Giants at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford.

The stadium is expected to open for the 2010 season and seat about 81,000.

The potential cost of the retractable roof hasn’t yet been established, but estimates have ranged anywhere from $175 million to $300 million.

“A retractable roof could bring economic benefits to the state,” said George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

He said he was surprised with the teams’ response that the roof could potentially kill the deal. “It’s obviously disappointing, but we’re going to have to see what the benefits are and maybe try to convince them,” he said.

Another potential sticking point of the deal concerns property taxes for East Rutherford, the town where the stadium is located.

Mayor James Cassella wants the teams to pay property taxes on new development the teams are proposing to build around the stadium – about 520,000 square feet for restaurants, entertainment and retail space.